944VT

In preparation for getting my 87 back on the road, I found the timing belt to be what seems to me too loose and decided that i should replace it for some peace of mind. I don't have all the tools yet, but I decided to set the engine at tdc just to verify all the marks lined up. However with the mark on the camshaft pulley lined up the other two marks seem to be off. Is this normal it seems like the camshaft would be a tooth off if the other marks lined up?

My other question involves the balance belt idler roller and how much clearance if any should there be on the top side? At the moment there appears to be no gap and the belt is always touching.

marc abrams

The camshaft mark looks good to me. When I did mine it was not exact ether. The balance shafts was more off. My car, a 83 did not have the "OT" mark's, just 1/16 of a inch groove in the flywheel and nothing on the bottom. If I remember one of the rollers was just "credit card" clearance, probability the balance belt idler. I used no special tools but I have done about a zillon belts in my life so I have a good feel.

divil

Are you sure the flywheel marks are off, and it's not just parallax? I found it almost impossible to get a straight down view of my flywheel mark, so it always looked like the line was a little to one side.

drive135mph

+1 on the parallax, I did my belts and found it difficult to look right down the inspection hole. I ended up confirming TDC with the screwdriver in the spark plug hole method.

Van

There is a little "blade" in the upper inspection hole (not visible in that picture because it's behind that cable).

You're close to having the flywheel lined up correct, but not quite. Also remember that the camshaft turns at 1/2 crankshaft speed. So the extra 2 or 3 degrees of rotation on the flywheel would only be 1-1.5 degrees of camshaft movement.

Because of the toothed belts, you just have to line them up the best you can.

944VT

Looks like I had rotated the crankshaft too far, I rotated the engine around again and everything seems spot on.

Thanks for the help, hopefully the belt change itself will be just as smooth.